While wandering aimlessly through various bookish periodicals, I came upon this list of "Memoirs That Will Last."
Like all book lists, this one's no more comprehensive and/or definitive than any other: they're all a crap shoot. I found it interesting and thought I'd pass it along:
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.
Good, bad, indifferent? Seems like a short list; I could easily add to it. Offhand, Steinbeck's Travels with Charley comes to mind. Nabokov's Speak, Memory. Perhaps Hemingway's A Moveable Feast?
We're so embroiled in the fast pace of modern life, you almost never hear the phrase "turn of the century" applied to the 90s rolling over to the 2000s. Yet here we are, busily typing away on our smart thises and thats, losing touch with each other in a physical way while reaching out to the entire world electronically. When there's a war, we're there live. We see things as they're happening, rather than relying on trans-oceanic telegraphs to hit our shores, then papers to pick up, journalists to write and newspapers to print the stories. Now? Twitter is probably our main newsfeed, people on the front lines of things texting or sending photos for the rest of us to see. This is the age of the Techno Revolution.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing. When something awful happens these Tweets direct the world's attention; we momentarily glance away from Oprah's interview with Lance Armstrong to note a bomb's hit a civilian building in Syria, killing untold numbers of people. Then, within seconds, we're back to talking about ourselves and our own interests, playing Angry Birds or any one of a million other pastimes.
Enough's been written about all that, books and books and more books about the impact the internet is having on our lives. I'm not competing with that; it's too far outside my immediate forte. What I'm interested in - this morning, at least - is how bestselling books from the turn of the last century compare with those in this. How does what we're reading reflect our new culture, thirteen years now into the new century?
I gave a half-hearted effort to find the New York Times's list of January 1913 best sellers, then decided the hell with it and took the list from Publishers Weekly. Just as reputable and easily found, two of my favorite terms.
None of these books were holdovers from 1912 but three were still best sellers in 1914:
The Inside of the Cup (dropped to number 3 from number 1)
Pollyanna (rose from number 8 to number 2)
T. Tembarom (rose to number 6 from number 10)
And how many of these books have stuck with us? In the mainstream, none of them. They were, just like their counterparts today will one day be, largely forgotten.
The Winston Churchill listed here, by the way, is not the former British Prime Minister. He's a different person entirely, born in the U.S. and a writer known for his naturalist style:
From Wikipedia:
"Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. It was depicted as a literarymovement that seeks to replicate a believableeveryday reality, as opposed to such movements as Romanticism or Surrealism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment... Naturalistic writers were influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.[1] They believed that one's heredity and social environment largely determine one's character. Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are, naturalism also attempts to determine "scientifically" the underlying forces (e.g., the environment or heredity) influencing the actions of its subjects."
And here's a description of the book, from Goodreads:
"With few exceptions, the incidents recorded in these pages take place in one of the largest cities of the United States of America, and of that portion called Middle West, a city once conservative and provincial, and rather proud of these qualities; but now outgrown them, and linked by lightning limited trains to other teeming centers of the modern world: a city overtaken, in recent years, by the plague which has swept our country from the Atlantic to the Pacific - prosperity."
Curious! The turn of the last century found prosperity a sea change from what came before. Like us, they faced the onslaught of new technology and weren't quite sure what to make of it. Unlike us, they were coming into a positive economic time.
Here are a few of the important events of 1913:
William M Burton patents a process to "crack" petroleum (Search for alternative energy)
British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland (1999 for Scotland)
Jim Thorpe relinquishes his 1912 Olympic medals for being a pro (Lance Armstrong?!)
Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (NYC) starring Ed Wynn
British House of Commons rejects woman's right to vote ("Hatred" of women?)
Ida B Wells-Barnett demonstrates for female suffrage in Washington DC (")
American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913
Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), which is the highest temperature recorded in the United States (Global warming?)
Arabs attack Jewish community of Rechovot Palestine (Sigh)
Association for Study of Negro Life & History organizes in Chicago
1000s of women demonstrate for Dutch female suffrage
Henry Ford institutes moving assembly line
Pres Wilson says US will never attack another country
1st modern elastic brassiere patented by Mary Phelps Jacob (!)
President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law
Of course, lots more happened and I would double-check the facts on some of these I took from HistoryOrb.com, just to be certain. But overall, I find some of the parallels interesting.
And what of literature itself, and literary movements, in the 21st century?:
From Wikipedia:
"The 2000s (decade) saw a steep increase in the acceptability of literature of all types, inspired by the coming-of-age of millions of people who enjoyed the works of writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in their youths. Neil Gaiman, for instance, one of the decade's most popular writers of speculative fiction, cites Tolkien, Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton as his three biggest influences growing up. J. K. Rowling admits to being heavily influenced by Lewis as well. Philip Pullman's gritty and controversial young adult His Dark Materialstrilogy, written and published in the late 1990s, increased in popularity and was more widely read during the 2000s (decade). The popularity of Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman, and Rowling was spurred on by movies which proved to be some of the biggest of the 2000s (decade).
The 2000s (decade) also saw the popularization of manga, or Japanese comics, among international audiences, particularly in English-speaking nations. Many famous books like Harry Potter series were converted into movies. Books on wars, guides for exams, myths, etc. were frequent sellers in this decade. Some books were written in simple English and works of old writers were translated into language that was easier to understand. Mythology was converted into graphic novel form to build interest among young readers."
Not mentioned (in this article) is the growing popularity of vampire and zombie themes, which must indicate something about our times. Fear, perhaps? Negative thoughts about the future? And, of course, the pastiche, borrowing from classics and adding supernatural/horror elements. Is this saying those were the good old days, look how terrible things are now?
As far as literary styles, everything goes. Out go the strict rules of grammar, in comes text-speak. Out go many professional journalists and critics and in come bloggers. The opinions and rumors of everyday people displace real journalism and threaten to outweigh the facts. Writing is given away for free, lessening its value.
One last thing, compare the list of 1913 bestsellers to the top ten this year:
1
1
GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. (Crown, $25.) A woman disappears on her fifth anniversary; is her husband a killer?
31
2
EMPIRE AND HONOR, by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. (Putnam, $27.95.) An O.S.S. agent’s plan to help his German intelligence counterparts reach Argentina encounters trouble; Book 7 of the Honor Bound series.
1
3
2
THE RACKETEER, by John Grisham. (Doubleday, $28.95.) An imprisoned ex-lawyer schemes to exchange information about a murdered federal judge for his freedom.
11
4
7
THE FORGOTTEN, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central, $27.99.) The military investigator John Puller, the protagonist of “Zero Day,” probes his aunt’s mysterious death in Florida.
5
5
THREAT VECTOR, by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney. (Putnam, $28.95.) As China threatens to invade Taiwan, the covert intelligence expert Jack Ryan Jr. aids his father’s administration — but his agency is no longer secret.
5
6
9
THE TWELVE TRIBES OF HATTIE, by Ayana Mathis. (Knopf, $24.95.) Fifty-some years in the life of an African-American family, starting with Hattie Shepherd, who leaves Georgia for Philadelphia in 1923.
7
6
CROSS ROADS, by Wm. Paul Young. (FaithWords, $24.99.) A comatose businessman encounters Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God; from the author of “The Shack.”
8
SHADOW WOMAN, by Linda Howard. (Ballantine, $27.) A woman’s inexplicable strange memories and altered appearance result from a far-reaching conspiracy.
1
9
8
NOTORIOUS NINETEEN, by Janet Evanovich. (Bantam, $28.) The New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum tracks down a con man who disappeared from a hospital.
7
10
*
4
THE CASUAL VACANCY, by J. K. Rowling. (Little, Brown, $35.) The sudden death of a parish councilman reveals bitter social divisions in an idyllic English town.
15
Just as the vast majority of authors writing in 1913 are unknown now, how will these authors fare in 2113?
I'd love to take these book by book but I simply don't have time right now. Here they are, though, if you'd like to do so.
I like this turn of the century topic. Maybe I'll revisit it one day. I love literature and I love history. Perfect.
Plus, did you know you can embed PowerPoint presentations in your blog? It's like a little miracle. It's also a big part of the reason I'm sharing LJ's 'Best of 2012' with you, at least in this format, so bloggers will know you can embed PPs if you so desire.
The only caveat is it really whacks out the spacing and HTML, so you have to go in and manually add returns and such or you'll have no spacing between paragraphs, or between the PP and text. Google how to embed PP presentations for your blogging platform and they'll have easy peasy steps for getting through it.
But anyhoo...
What DO you think of Library Journal's list of best books? It's a bit unconventional, not mentioning some of the same old books you'll find on other lists, like the New York Times best of and notables. I like the variety, the introduction to books I'd never have found otherwise. Believe it or not, some books actually DON'T make my radar, even with my book whore-ish proclivities.
Wiley Cash's book - A Land More Kind Than Home - gets my most fervent recommendation. Not only is it a superb book, Wiley Cash is the sweetest writer on the face of this earth. I interviewed him for BookBrowse.com and we also keep bumping into each other in various social media forums. If I were creating my own list of "Sure Bet Great Reads," ALMKTH would definitely be on it.
Maybe I should create that list... I'll cogitate on it.
Meanwhile, hope you enjoy the PP. If you have trouble with it, or like it ever so much, please drop me a comment. I'd love to hear what you think, partly because the PPs are so incredibly time-consuming to make.
P.S.: No, PP is not paying me to advertise for them...
According to the HoustonPress blog, these are the Top Ten Most Funny Novels of All Time. I'm going to admit this now, and get it over with: I've never even heard of half of them and haven't read a single one.
Suggestions for what they missed? Disagree with anything? I'm wracking my own brain as I finish this post but I've come up with nothing so far.
Here they are:
Notaro's books of humorous essays should be required college reading for any creative writing course. If nothing else, to help show you all you have to look forward to in your career as a professional writer. Her first novel, a fictionalized account of her move to the Pacific Northwest and trying to fit in, isn't quite as side-splitting as her nonfiction, but it's worth the read just for the scene where she joins a gothic book club expecting Mary Shelley and gets Practical Magick. Yes, magick with a "k."
Yes, comic books count as novels. Anything good enough for Alan Moore should be good enough for you. Garth Ennis did this hilarious and definitely R-rated send-up of the superhero comic where a single mom who moonlights as a prostitute is given superpowers in a dare by an alien. It contains the greatest sodomy joke of all time, a sentence that we cannot believe we got paid to type.
We'd expect nothing but comedy gold from a Cracked.com writer, and that's what you get. We only had to read three pages of sarcastic paranormal horror story before we knew that it was the perfect gift for the most deranged members of our social circle. You probably won't like this one unless there is something completely wrong with you.
Ellis is a comic genius that has finally turned to prose. Crooked Little Vein is a detective tale that starts with its hero matching wits with a rat that is pissing in his coffee, and then heads out into America to seek a lost Constitution misplaced by Richard Nixon in a whorehouse. We had to clean soda off of the computer screen before we finished the first page.
Neil Gaiman can't really be called funny, even though we're at a loss to think of a single work that didn't have at least one brilliant joke. Conversely, Terry Pratchett writes some of the funniest books around, but picking one Discworld novel is impossible. We compromised on Good Omens, which was a collaboration that heavily parodies the Omen. Several very helpful theories are put forth in the novel, such as how all albums left in a car eventually become The Best of Queen, and how freeway design is actually a plot by Hell to increase frustration in the world.
To paraphrase Kathleen Madigan, Amanda McKittrick Ros was hilarious, but she had no idea why. Her husband self-published her novel as a tenth wedding anniversary present, and it eventually became the greatest unintentional literary comedy ever written. Tolkien and Lewis would hold reading competitions to see who could get the furthest through the book without laughing. Why is it so funny? Here's a sample of her writing style:
"Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue!"
Seriously, she's like a real-life Fawful without the rocket hat. The best part is, while finding a physical copy of Irene Iddesleigh costs over $100, it's available on Kindle now for free!
Based on Millington's acclaimed Web site chronicling his relationship with his girlfriend, the full-length book version more than lives up to the legacy he built. Nothing appeals more than a dysfunctional relationship that manages to survive, or reading as the narrator is driven to pants-soiling panic while his girlfriend turns a run for Chinese food into a white-knuckle car chase when she spots the van of the roofers she suspects stole their broom.
Do we really need to say anything about this one? Well, one thing... has anyone else realized that if you wrote "Don't Panic" on an iPad case and made Wikipedia your browser's homepage, then you would totally have the actual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
Jesus has been many things, savior, rock star, vampire hunter, but this is the first time that he's been the straight man in a buddy adventure. Of course, every Christopher Moore book should be on a list like this, but our hearts will always belong to Christ's best friend Biff, and the journey they take across the Orient in search of spiritual enlightenment, kung fu and, in Biff's case, sexual chocolate. Also available in a super-fancy Bible-style version for the extra dose of blasphemy.
Most people were probably expecting Catch-22 here, but honestly we've never gotten even a quarter of the way through the book. We just don't get it. While we're willing to admit that Joseph Heller undoubtedly wrote the more significant novel, Hooker wrote the funnier one. It's a masterpiece of language, absurdism and prankishness that would make Ken Kesey blush.
A wealth of riches is anticipated in 2012, so much so it makes me feel positively ill there’s no way on earth I’ll get to all of them, much less be able to afford them. There is the library, yes, yes but sometimes I love having the books in-house, being able to pick them up when I feel like it and not rushing to finish before they’re due to be returned.
I am a horrid librarian.
Following are some of the tasty delights slated for publication this year, mostly the fiction as that interests me most. Some of these are UK publishing dates, I feel the need to warn you. So check Amazon US for pub dates here in the colonies:
Writer and book reviewer, editor, columnist, blogger, author interviewer and book event roadie. I read. I write. I take pictures. And I am a librarian.
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.
“For me, everything's too much and nothing's enough.”
